Terrorized enemies become panicked and paranoid, and with the lone exception of the Stalker (who will simply freeze in-place), experience drastic and complex effects on both movement and firing behavior.
Changes to Behavior[]
- Will immediately stumble backwards one tile's distance in shock, and cry out an alarmed expletive (which incidentally appears to be the source of the "Strong Language" content warning).
- If they are positioned with their backs to the edge of a ledge when this occurs, they will fall off it to the level below.
- Flare Guards will additionally drop their shield, making them much more vulnerable and reactive to any follow-up Darts.
- They will then immediately open fire in the direction of the cause of their terror, except if they fell off a ledge in the initial stumble.
- Following this, they will settle into a new idle behavior, moving slowly and mostly predictably. All patrol paths (or stationary camping points in the case of snipers) are completely forgotten and they will simply inch along until they meet an impassable obstacle or ledge, at which point they will then turn back and head in the other direction. They will additionally adopt a pattern of alternately facing forward, and then switch to checking behind them as they move.
- All object-based Distraction triggers (which excludes noises from your self such as running or grappling) will cause them to immediately fire in the source direction, then creep forward to fearfully investigate - in this case consistently facing forward, unlike their typical alternating pattern. Once they reach the Distraction source, they will pause for about a quarter of the standard investigation time (which is not displayed in the standard segmented ring countdown), then settle back into the above-mentioned creeping idle.
- They become completely incapable of raising any kind of alarm. If they happen to spot either you or a previously-unencountered dead body (including the same body moved to a new location), they will repeat the stumble-backward-then-shoot reaction as they effectively become Terrified anew.
- Note that each Friendly Fire incident will count as generating a fresh dead body for the purposes of the newly-Terrified reaction, so a single Terrified individual in an area full of guards can quickly create a devastating feedback loop that almost assuredly results in him being the last man standing once the dust settles - apart from you, of course...
- An important thing that does not change is their ability to earn you score bonuses. Disabled, Distracted, Undetected, Oblivious and especially Friendly Fire become significantly easier to obtain on enemies in this state.
- Speaking of Friendly Fire: be careful not to be caught up in the mix! Regardless of whether or not they are directly targeting you, their indiscriminate spray can catch you with an errant round or two even if you are taking shelter in what would normally be a non-targetable location such as inside/behind a scenery prop, or behind grating.
- This is a particular concern for Snipers because even though they fire only two rounds each time, their aim does not diverge and the projectile itself seems for all practical purposes to have unlimited range and penetration - and retain all of their one-shot potency.
- Finally, it is notable for the purposes of intentionally setting up Friendly Fire incidents that unless they are within earshot of the Terrorized guards' shooting, other guards do not change their patterns of behavior: completely ignoring their colleagues' panicked state as they allow them to freely wander wherever they please.
Ways to Terrorize Enemies[]
In general, the only 100% guaranteed method to Terrorize opponents of all types is the Hisomu Terror Dart (though notably the Elite Guard does not provide the +300 score bonus when doing so).
The below-listed surprise-tactic alternatives are based on... creative ways to utlize dead bodies or the killing itself. All normal guards are susceptible to these, but they rarely, if ever, work to your advantage in the case of Elite Guards or Stalkers. If attempted on these latter two enemy types, you will at best cause a Distracted state but will much more often cause a Body Found Raised Alarm.
The following are fully effective on all normal guards:
- Discovering a hanging body (could be dead or disabled).
- Witnessing either variation of the work-in-progress of Ravenous Insects, whether on a dead body or live victim.
- Witnessing someone being killed by a Fungal Spore.
- One of the Path of Nightmare's stated perks is that guards will automatically become Terrorized if they either witness a stealth kill or stumble upon any dead body in any state (ie. does not need to be strung up).
The following are often effective, but may fail for various difficult-to-control factors such as timing, lighting visibility, and the intended guard's visual cone.
- A takedown in sight of other guards with a Spike Mine, or being crushed by a falling object such as a chandelier.
- Throwing or dropping a dead body onto a guard in their 'idle' state (patrolling, sitting or standing still). This seems much more likely to work if the body's trajectory actually knocks them aside before landing, but can still function if it merely appears suddenly within their visual cone.